Respect your in-laws if you can
by AnaIsFangirling
Summary: He might have been going crazy but Glenn could've sworn he'd heard his brother-in-law's voice coming from the roof of the department store.


Hiya! I wrote this little AU idea yesterday and I thought I'd give it a try for my first fanfiction in this fandom. It didn't turn out exactly as I wanted but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

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Sometimes Glenn wondered if there was anyone else alive nearby or in the city or in the state or even in the whole world. On those days, he locked himself up in the apartment and pretended that the world hadn't gone to hell… He was just waiting for Daryl to come back from work, thinking about dinner; should he try to cook something or should they order in?... But he only had canned food for dinner and Daryl wouldn't be coming home for it anyway, it wasn't even the right apartment; it wasn't their shitty little place on the ground floor of a complex build in the 50s, with just one bedroom, a bathroom the size of a closet and a kitchen where they had managed to squeeze a couch big enough for two and Glenn's old TV right next to the small table and two mismatched chairs. Glenn had to leave that apartment when the alarm went off.

He never thought they would actually bomb the city, still, when he heard the siren he ran out, taking as much supplies as he could carry and one of Daryl's old shirts, one with the logo of the garage he worked at. The sleeves were cut off and it wasn't the cleanest but it was the easiest thing to reach, still hanging on the chair where Daryl had left it. Glenn hid in the basement of the bar across the street, hoping that Larry, the owner, had been right and it had been built to resist an explosion. In the end it made no difference, the bar was intact, but not their building.

After that he took residence in a recent building that hadn't been completely finished, there were still fences surrounding it that used to hide the construction site from the public, now they were Glenn's first layer of security. As he had expected, the building was empty. No one had been living there yet and the construction had stopped long before the army lost control of the city.

He had checked every room, secured every door and window on the first floor as well as the doors leading to the stairs and over a month later, he was still there, in a studio apartment on the fifth floor with an old mattress, a camp stove and a pile of tin cans. It was easy for him to sneak in and out to search for supplies, he knew Atlanta like the back of his hand, besides, he had nothing else to do with his time.

…

It was all Merle's fault. Well, maybe not whatever it was that had created walkers but, Daryl not being with Glenn when it happened sure as hell was his brother's fault, he had no doubt about it. Merle had called Daryl a few days before the shit had hit the proverbial fan telling him –not even asking or begging, as he should have done- to come bail him out of jail in the middle of nowhere. People were already talking about some disease but no one was taking it seriously so Daryl took a few days off work and drove off.

Glenn understood, at least that's what he said every time Merle called Daryl to help him out of a tight spot. Even after his brother tried to "beat the fag out of him", as he had said, when he found out about Daryl's sexuality five years ago and even after Merle had met Glenn two years later, when they had just started dating, and threatened to call their Pa if he didn't leave "that slant-eye queer", Merle still called him when he needed him, he still called him brother, and Daryl never asked for more. He knew his brother, just him standing next to Daryl and breathing the same air was proof that no matter what Merle believed, they were still family.

But family or not, Daryl will always resent Merle for losing Glenn. The idiot had started a bar fight while both drunk and high, then the cops had found an entire pound of meth in Merle's bag on the front of his bike. It took three days, a dubious lawyer and a huge chunk of Daryl's savings to get him out of there, by the time they were on the road back to the city the emergency broadcasts had already started.

During all the ride back Merle tried to convince his little brother that they should go back home, to their father and, if it wasn't for Glenn, Daryl might have agreed but he had to go back for him. They were stopped on the interstate by a bunch of soldiers, who told them the city was off limits and it didn't take long to find out why. It looked like the whole city was on fire, they were bombing it, all of it.

Daryl yelled, screamed, begged and finally punched the first soldier he could get his hands on. He was on the floor, another soldier's arm around his neck, in seconds. But it didn't matter, nothing mattered anymore, and when he realized Glenn was probably dead, he found himself crying harder than he ever had in the arms of that soldier.

They were taken to a refugee camp close by. Both Dixon brothers agreed that it was too close to the city and, at the time, Daryl wasn't in the mood for talking, let alone arguing, so when Merle proposed they left and look for a place further in the woods, he nodded and followed.

They survived 32 days on their own, staying mostly in the woods and only hitting a few of the small towns they knew when they needed supplies they couldn't find in a forest. Then one day they stumbled upon a group of city folks camping near a quarry. They looked pathetic and Daryl had wanted to leave them to their own devices but of course Merle had a better idea.

The plan was to pretend to be part of their little group, help them by hunting fresh meat to gain their trust and then take off with their supplies at the first opportunity. It was a stupid plan but Daryl couldn't care less. Merle got comfortable there, even if most people wished they'd leave, and more than two weeks later they were still at the quarry and the plan was forgotten.

Daryl had been hunting for almost 24 hours. He tried to pretend that it was because he was too lazy to carry the damn deer he had tracked down and preferred to lure it towards camp even if it took him all night, but deep down he knew he just needed to keep his mind occupied. For some reason, Merle had decided to join the group heading to the city to get some much needed supplies. He shouldn't be worried, it was stupid, if anyone could survive the apocalypse it was Merle, but the idiot was all he had left.

He was finally close to camp, the deer ahead of him, when he heard screams. Those city folks never learned. When he got there the first thing he saw was a guy he didn't know with the cop, the old man and the Latino guy who had left for the city with his brother that morning, which meant that Merle was back. His relief was short-lived though when he saw HIS deer half chewed-up by the now dead walker next to it. Well, almost dead walker he noticed after ranting and hitting the corpse for good measure, those idiot had decapitated it and the head was still moving.

"Come on people, what the hell?" He asked as he shot an arrow in the thing's eye. "It's gotta be the brain." He continued while getting his arrow back. "Don't y'all know nothing ?"

Daryl left, walking towards his tent calling out for Merle to help him butcher the squirrels but his brother wasn't around. Then the new guy approached him slowly with way too much sympathy in his voice from someone he'd never met to be a coincidence. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it meant.

…

He might have been going crazy but Glenn could've sworn he'd heard his brother-in-law's voice coming from the roof of the department store. Glenn was on the roof of an office building right next to the department store in question when he heard it again.

"… or you can kiss my lily-white ass."

Glenn looked everywhere on the roof next to the one he was on and it took him a few seconds to see the shape of someone sitting behind some rusted pips. If that was Merle, then who the hell was he talking to? Was Daryl with him? Was he alive?

"… the look on his face when I punched out his front teeth."

He remembered that story, Daryl had told him about the fight that got Merle in jail for 16 months, it had to be him then. Glenn felt the adrenaline pump in his system, if Merle was alive then maybe, just maybe, so was Daryl.

He tried to assess the situation. There appeared to be no one else on the roof but he could see walkers pushing at the door to get to Merle, the door must have been blocked though. He couldn't get in the store because the main reason he had got into this building in the first place was because the herd that had been blocking him before had been distracted and were into that store.

For a brief moment he thought about leaving him there. Merle had never been a fan of Glenn, both because he was Asian and gay, probably also because he was fucking his brother on a regular basis, and the man was violent on a good day but this definitely didn't look like a good day. But then Merle started to beg god for mercy and that was just sad… besides, he needed him to find Daryl.

The roofs were not close enough to jump from one to the other but after a little scavenging he found a ladder and some wood panels just about the right size for a makeshift bridge… a very small and unstable bridge. As he struggled to put the ladder in place, Merle finally stopped screaming "I never begged you!" as he heard the commotion behind him.

"Who's there?! Better not be the worthless piece of shit cop that stuck me here or I'm gonna make you eat your own damn teeth, you heat me?!"

Glenn made it on the roof and got closer, still too shocked to say anything.

"Well I'll be damned…" Merle said when he finally saw who it was. "Chinaman! I never thought I'd ever be so happy to see ya'!"

"Is Daryl alive?" Glenn finally managed to ask, his voice trembling as he felt his heart pounding in his chest.

"Yeah! Yeah Darlina's fine. Tell you what, you get me outta here and I'll take you to him. Promise."

"No offence Merle, but how do I know you're not lying?" 'Never trust Merle' was one of the first thing Daryl had told him when they were on their way to see him that first time and Glenn was definitely going to follow that rule.

"Oh c'mon man! He's my brother, I ain't gonna hurt his little mistress. And that sissy's been moping around ever since we thought those bombs got to you, I sure as hell want him to be happy, I'm a good brother."

"Yeah well, the jury's still out on that one." Glenn sighed. He had no choice.

It took an hour of Glenn trying everything in the tool box that got left on the roof and Merle cursing and complaining to get the cuffs off of him. In the end, Glenn had to fish out the key in the drain with a wire and a magnet he found in the junk at the bottom of the bag fool of tools. He kept wondering how the hell did Merle get handcuffed to a roof and how the key fell down that drained but the man wasn't providing much information except something about an 'officer friendly' and a 'nigger'. Glenn was actually grateful not to have many weapons for once, because whoever those guys were, it would be safer for them if Merle was unarmed. All they had was Glenn's baseball bat and the hunting knife Daryl had given to him for their first anniversary. Merle took the knife from Glenn's belt without asking but at least he had no gun.

They left the way Glenn had come, only having to kill three walkers on their way to the apartment. Apparently the Dixon brothers were with a group, camping outside of town. Merle wouldn't tell him where exactly though. They took all the food Glenn had, which was more than what the group had ever brought back from town according to Merle, putting them in two backpacks and tow duffle bags Glenn had kept at the apartment just in case.

They took a car to get out of the city, but it died before they reached their destination, wherever that was since Merle still refused to talk. Actually, neither of them talked and this whole situation was probably the most awkward and tensed moment of Glenn's life… And he had hit on a redneck at a straight bar once, so that was saying something. Even if Daryl did take him back to his place that night.

…

Daryl was going to get his brother, whether they wanted to or not.

"Hell with y'all! I ain't waiting around for my brother to die on that goddamn roof!"

"And I'm telling you Dixon, we can't afford to lose what little fuel we have left!" Shane answered as if he had been talking of taking a joyride for fun. Daryl never liked that cop, he was too eager to be the boss, if there was one thing that Daryl had learned from watching his Pa and Merle, it was that the best leaders were the one that didn't enjoy being one. His father and brother had been shitty leaders and so was that douche bag.

"Y'all should've thought of that before you left him there to rot!"

"We need those supplies in case we have to run, we are NOT risking all of our lives for your douche bag brother! If you want to go, fine. But you're not taking any fuel and whether you find Merle or not, don't bother coming back." Shane insisted. The new cop, Rick something or other, stepped up.

"C'mon Shane, we can't just leave him there!"

"No way Rick! You just came back to your family, I am not letting you leave again. Certainly not for Merle Dixon."

While the cops fought over what to do, Daryl walked away towards the RV. He reached the place in front of the door where they kept the two small gas tanks they had, took one and marched back towards his truck.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing Dixon?" Shane yelled, running to catch up with him before putting himself between Daryl and his truck, his hand on Daryl's chest to block him.

"I'm getting my brother, now move outta my way."

Daryl saw the first punch coming and managed to duck. He dropped the tank and launched himself at the cop. He landed a few punches to the guy's face before someone hit the back of his head hard, and everything turned black.

…

"How much further?" Glenn asked with a tired sigh. It was already dark and Merle was still silent. "Come on dude, can you at least tell me when we'll get there?"

"Not as fast as we should if you keep whining like a women. Ya' know, I never quite got what my brother saw in you but maybe that was it, maybe he thought you was as close to a women a fag could get."

"Or maybe he just like my big d-" Glenn never got to finish his sentence as they suddenly heard screams and gun shots coming from up ahead.

"Shit, is that them?" Glenn asked, he took Merle running towards the commotion as a 'yes' and followed him. They got to a camp that was being overrun by walkers, both he and Merle joined the fold, killing as many as they could. When the fighting stopped, everyone was shell-shocked. Glenn looked around frantically, checking every faces to find Daryl's. He saw a few kids crying in their parents' arms, he saw a blond woman caressing the hair of a dying young woman who looked like her… Some of the surviving members of the group stared at him and Merle with unbelieving looks and in other circumstances he might have explained but he had someone to find.

…

Daryl woke up with a searing pain behind his skull and a walker with half its face missing gnawing his right boot. He screamed and pushed the thing with his foot, crawling backwards until he hit the back of his tent. The walker was coming back so he reached for his knife at his belt but the blade was gone. After a quick check he realized that he had no weapons. He couldn't fight the thing in this tent, it was too small, but the walker was already crawling in.

"Help!" He called out while trying to keep the walker at bay. Immediately a voice yelled his name and for a fraction of a second he could have sworn it was Glenn.

The walker managed to crawl all the way and was on top of him, trying to reach him with its teeth while Daryl held him away with his knees and an arm on the thing's chest. Then he heard it again, Glenn's voice yelling his name, this time right outside the tent. Then suddenly the walker stopped moving, an arrow now coming out of his left eye. Daryl wasted no time throwing the body away from him and jumping out of the fucking tent.

He was going to turn around, to see who had saved him, when someone threw their arms around him.

"Oh god, I thought I'd never see you again."

It was Glenn. It really was Glenn. How did he get here? How did he find him? Was he dreaming? Was he dead?

"Are you okay? Did it bite you?" Glenn continued as he back off just enough to check Daryl for bite marks. He was still looking up and down his body when Daryl took his boyfriend's face in his hands to get his attention.

"You're real." Was all he managed to say before falling on his knees, burying his face against Glenn's stomach. They stayed that way for a long time, Daryl sobbing softly as Glenn petted his hair. When Daryl finally calmed down and looked up it was to see a few of the people from the camp looking at them suspiciously while Merle smirked like the cat who got the cream. But the world could have ended around them and it wouldn't have stopped him from standing up, cupping Glenn's face in his hands once more and reaching down to kiss him passionately as he had been dreaming off for weeks.

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So, how was it? Should I write more Darlenn ?


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